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PacketShaper® Compression
Module
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................ 1
Feature Requirements and Limitations.............................................................................................................2
The compression module allows you to increase the virtual size of WAN bandwidth and
improve application performance. By integrating compression technologies with traffic
management, PacketWise ensures that the increased virtual WAN pipe is not consumed by
aggressive, non-mission-critical applications that burst to consume any bandwidth given to
them. In addition, the effective throughput of the mission-critical traffic can also increase,
providing a double benefit. Packeteer’s shaping module protects mission-critical traffic,
contains recreational and unsanctioned traffic, and smooths peaks in bursty traffic, while
the compression module provides greater throughput and network capacity. The
compression module is also known as the Xpress feature.
PacketShapers identify other units with compression modules on the network and
dynamically setting up compression tunnels between the units. A tunnel is automatically
set up when traffic is sent between PacketShapers, as shown in the following diagram.
Tunnel A is created for the traffic between the clients in Branch Office A and the servers at
the main site. Likewise, Tunnel B is created for the traffic between the clients in Branch
Office B and the main site servers. Tunnel C is created for the traffic between the clients in
Branch Office A and the clients in Branch Office B.
Branch Office A Main Site Servers Branch Office B
PacketShaper
PacketShaper PacketShaper PacketShaper
Corporate Main Site Internet
WAN LAN
Tunnel A Tunnel B
Tunnel C
The PacketShaper does not attempt to compress all traffic. Because the PacketShaper is
application intelligent, it is able to identify each traffic flow and compress only the flows
that are likely to achieve useful gains. Previously compressed traffic (such as streaming
media) and encrypted data are examples of non-compressible traffic. The ability to apply
appropriate compression algorithms to different applications is built into Packeteer’s
compression engine. With this design, you can choose, for each application, the appropriate
algorithm that will yield the best compression ratio, with minimal latency.
✍ Note: If you want to evaluate the compression feature before purchase, you can use
the Compression Estimator. See PacketGuide for more information.
Minimum Memory
PacketShaper Models
Requirement
1200 256 MB
1550 256 MB
1700 256 MB
2500 512 MB
Note: A Memory Upgrade Kit
may be required.
3500 1 GB
6500 512 MB
7500 2 GB
8500 1 GB
9500 2 GB
10000 2 GB
The compression module requires that each network interface (built-in or LEM) on the
PacketShaper be assigned a unique IP address, called an Xpress-IP address. The Xpress-IP
address is used for establishing compression tunnels between PacketShapers.You may have
already configured Xpress-IP addresses during Guided Setup; if so, you can skip this
section.
To configure compression settings:
1. Click the setup tab. The Basic Settings screen is displayed in the Setup window.
✍ Note: If compression is already turned on, the Basic Settings screen will have a link
to Compression Settings. You can click this link to go directly to the Xpress-IP
Settings page.
2. From the Choose Setup Page list, select compression. The Xpress-IP Settings screen
appears.
Field Description
INSIDE
WAN INSIDE
or
OUTSIDE Internet
OUTSIDE
Direct Standby PacketShapers can be used in a redundant configuration using Packeteer’s direct standby
feature. The direct standby function allows two PacketShapers to work in a redundant
network topology, with each unit connected to a different router. See PacketGuide for more
information on direct standby configuration.
When compression and direct standby are both enabled, Packeteer recommends that
automatic reprobe mode be used on PacketShapers at all branch offices. In auto reprobe
mode, the PacketShaper manages connectivity and periodically sends maintenance probes
to ensure that compressed traffic is routed via an available path. If a host does not respond
to the probe (perhaps because a router has failed, making the host unreachable through the
existing data path), the unreachable host will be removed from the compression tunnel and
the PacketShaper will attempt to re-discover it through an alternate path, if one exists.
The default probing mode is manual. To enable automatic mode, use the following CLI
command:
setup compression reprobe auto
Viewing the For an overview of how compression is working on your link, you can display the
Compression Compression Summary report. The top of this report has a table that summarizes
Summary compression statistics for the Inbound and Outbound links. The Inbound statistics represent
inbound traffic that gets decompressed by the PacketShaper, and the Outbound statistics
represent outbound traffic that the PacketShaper compresses.
This report contains a total of eight graphs — four graphs for the Inbound direction and four
for Outbound. The graphs compare bandwidth usage, with and without compression, so
that you can quickly see the amount of compression on your link.
To see a meaningful Compression Summary, wait approximately an hour after enabling
compression before viewing the report.
To display the compression summary:
1. Click the report tab.
2. Click compression summary. The Compression Summary report displays in the
current window.
✍ Note: By default, only compressible traffic is included in the graphs and data. If you
want to show all traffic (compressible and non-compressible), select the include
non-compressible traffic in graphs and data checkbox. When this checkbox is
selected, you may also want to select the include link size in graphs checkbox.
(Link size is less meaningful when viewing only some of the traffic, as is the case
when non-compressible traffic is not included.)
Statistic Description
Bytes Saved The number of bytes that didn’t have to traverse the link,
due to compression; allows you to see how many bytes
the compression feature actually saved on the link.
Bytes Saved is the difference between precompression
bytes and postcompression bytes.
Graph Description
Percent Bytes Saved Shows the percentage of bytes saved on the link, due to
compression. The Tunneled Percent Bytes Saved value
is calculated by subtracting tunneled postcompression
bytes (the size after compression) from tunneled
precompression bytes (the size without any
compression) and dividing this difference by tunneled
precompression bytes. For example, if a link would
have had 700k without compression and is 400k after
being compressed, the Tunneled Percent Bytes Saved
would be approximately 43%: (700-400)/700.
If you enable the include non-compressible traffic in
graphs and data checkbox, the graph includes all
traffic on the link (compressible and non-compressible).
The Percent Bytes Saved value is calculated by
subtracting precompression bytes (the size without any
compression) and postcompression bytes (the size after
compression) and dividing this difference by
precompression bytes. For example, if the link in the
example above had 100k of non-compressible traffic,
the Percent Bytes Saved would be 38%: ((700+100)-
(400+100))/(700+100).
If your Compression Summary doesn’t show any compression data, see “Problems?” on
page 10.
✍ Note: The top ten tab is not available on the PacketShaper 1200.
4. To choose a different time interval, enter the number of minutes, hours, days, weeks,
or months in the Show field, and then select the unit of time.
For example, by entering 3 in the Show field and selecting day for the unit of time, you
create a report with the data collected over the last three days.
5. Click update to apply the new time interval settings. The new report appears.
6. To see another Top Ten compression report, click the View drop-down list and select
Compression Bytes Saved.
Problems? If your compression reports don’t show any results, check the table below for possible
problems and solutions.
Problem Solution
Cables are connected backwards. Refer to the Quick Start Guide for instructions
on connecting your PacketShaper to the
network. If you discover that you have
miscabled the unit, reconnect the cables
properly, and then turn compression off and
back on.
You are not sending/receiving flows If the host does not have a compression-
to/from a host on the other side of a enabled PacketShaper in front of it, data cannot
compression-enabled PacketShaper. be compressed.
Xpress-IP settings are not configured. PacketShaper will not create compression
tunnels or compress data for devices (main or
LEM) that are not configured with Xpress-IP
settings. To configure Xpress-IP settings for
each device, go to the setup tab and choose the
Compression page.
You applied a never-admit policy to The compression tunnel discovery process will
the RSVP class. not function if the RSVP class has a never-
admit policy. Delete the policy.
If you are still experiencing problems with compression after trying the above solutions,
use the setup compression show command in the command-line interface. This command
provides compression tunnel partner status. PacketGuide provides additional
troubleshooting details — just search for compression troubleshooting.